High-level martial arts: Contract cashback, invincible starting from the Zerg.

When Chen Feng, clad in nano armor, entered the Martial God's Ladder illusion.

The space teleportation device that was roaring in my ears just a second ago instantly switched to a howling gale.

In this absolutely silent place, all sounds seemed to be abruptly cut off by an invisible hand.

There were no sun, moon, or stars in the sky, nor the magnificent light of the Martial God Ladder battle scene.

There was only a thick, leaden gray haze, like clouds that had been frozen for millions of years, shrouding the entire world in a oppressive gloom. Twisted lightning streaked through the clouds, illuminating the earth with intermittent light and shadow.

This ancient ruin, which the people of the Great Xia Kingdom could transform into the Martial God's Ladder Illusionary Realm, contains two layers of worlds.

The first level is the Martial God's Ladder, a level that powerful humans can tread upon and explore.

Each level of the Martial God Ladder corresponds to a trial. Human martial artists learn from these trials, gaining combat experience against various races, and ultimately breaking through their own combat limitations to reach the ultimate Martial God realm.

It carries the unwavering determination of human martial artists to rise against all odds and is engraved with the glorious past of ancient battles. As long as the Heavenly Ladder remains, the martial arts of the Great Xia will always have a path to follow and a peak to climb.

And outside this Martial God Ladder level.

There's also the Free Layer of Chen Feng's relics, as Mu Wen mentioned.

Just then, the clue left by mentor Yu Qian turned into a line of text and appeared in Chen Feng's field of vision.

[Surplus Money: Venture deep into ancient ruins, go to places where others cannot find you, and find the weaponry that belongs to "it"]

Looking at this message, which doesn't contain much substantial information.

Chen Feng sighed.

Although he had just gained a foothold in Gu Yong, he never expected that he would have to retreat into the darkness once again simply because he had awakened the talent of a Desolate-rank warrior.

What's worse is that this time, Chen Feng can only rely on himself.

......

The lost city before us was majestic, but it was shrouded in layers of gray smog.

This city has endured the erosion of countless years; most of the buildings have collapsed, and the exteriors of all the buildings are mottled and covered with cracks of varying depths. Dark vines are also entwined among the broken walls and ruins.

The air was filled with a decaying and eerie atmosphere, as if a powerful yet secretive creature lived here.

Chen Feng glanced down at the early warning system of the nanotech armor.

Although the display showed no living creatures within a kilometer, the nanotech armor and its supplies remained plentiful.

However, Chen Feng remained complacent.

Because Mu Wen explicitly told Chen Feng that the danger level of the Free Layer of the Ruins far exceeded that of the Martial God Ladder, whether he could survive until 15 days later depended entirely on Chen Feng himself.

As Chen Feng walked along the city road into the distance.

The gray smog hanging over the city seemed to be slowly sinking, making the already dim world even more gloomy. The twisted lightning in the clouds gradually disappeared, leaving only boundless obscurity and oppression.

There is no regularity of day and night alternation, and no sign of the sun setting.

Darkness seemed to spread rapidly, soon almost engulfing the entire lost city.

Just then, Chen Feng noticed a strange phenomenon.

The nanotech armor's warning system suddenly sounded, and dozens of red lights suddenly appeared on the nanotech armor's reconnaissance display screen, illuminating almost the entire inside of Chen Feng's helmet visor.

Even more strangely, as the night deepened rapidly, these creatures, which could not be precisely located, gradually developed more distinct biological forms.

These bizarre creatures are not made of flesh and blood.

Instead, they are energy creatures formed from the unique "energy source" of the Relic Free Layer, and their biological characteristics and combat power are deeply bound to energy.

When there is sufficient light in the free layer of the ruins, the Shadow Eroder will be in an "energy diffuse state", without a fixed shape and difficult to detect.

However, as night deepened and the energy concentration of the Relic Free Layer gradually increased, the energy characteristics of the Shadow Eater intensified dramatically, eventually taking shape.

Chen Feng tensed up instantly and ran towards the building that seemed least dangerous.

After taking refuge inside a building, Chen Feng immediately removed his nanotech armor and folded it into a large box...

As night gradually fell.

The once silent city ruins have begun to rustle with faint sounds.

The sharp claws made a "sizzling" sound as they scraped against the bricks.

The first Shadow Eater was hunched over, his entire body covered in dark brown scales, beneath which were wriggling black hairs. His limbs were twisted and deformed, as if forcibly spliced ​​together, and his claws were half a foot long, gleaming coldly in the darkness.

It has no eyes, and its head looks more like a randomly pieced-together white iron hammer head, making it look extremely eerie.

Immediately afterwards, more Shadow Eaters materialized from the darkness below the building.

Some have thick, black tentacles that allow them to dart swiftly between broken walls.

Some of them are shaped like giant wolves, but have three heads and six eyes, each pair of eyes being blood-red.

Others are completely transparent and move silently. Only when you get close can you feel their bone-chilling coldness, making them impossible to guard against.

Although these Shadow Devourers did not appear to be deadly, given their sheer number, Chen Feng understood that Mu Wen's warning was not an exaggeration—in the darkness, their combined combat power might even far surpass that of the various races' phantoms in the Martial God's Ladder.

What's even more terrifying is that the Shadow Eaters have a certain tacit understanding; they have been wandering around quietly, as if searching for prey that has strayed into their world.

Even the slightest sound can attract their attention.

But Chen Feng soon noticed something unusual—all the Shadow Eaters, regardless of their form, always lingered on the ground, either moving among broken walls and ruins or sniffing around in the collapsed buildings. None of them would easily climb the tall buildings around them.

Even low, easily climbable walls and building ruins are rarely approached for climbing.

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully avoiding the edge of the window frame, and once again extended his senses as a Heavenly Realm expert to confirm whether his discovery was correct.

The Shadow Eater below seemed to be wandering aimlessly, unaware of anything unusual about Chen Feng's location.

Chen Feng slowly straightened up.

My gaze swept across the dimly lit interior of the building and finally landed on the staircase in the passageway not far away.

The stair railing was already badly rusted, its surface covered with thick dust and dark red mottled marks, as if it had been eroded by time and some unknown liquid. With a light touch of the fingertip, fine rust flakes would fall off.

The corridor was filled with an even stronger stench of decay than downstairs, mixed with a faint metallic rust smell, and a faint, elusive energy fluctuation that was different from the Shadow Eroder's cold energy.

The stairwell above was almost entirely shrouded in thick darkness.

Yet at the very end of this boundless darkness, at the very top of the stairs, a light flickers faintly, dim and yellow, like the only lighthouse in the darkness.

Chen Feng's pupils contracted slightly.

This lost city has been eroded for at least a century, and all the buildings have been abandoned and collapsed. How could there possibly be any lights?